Over the last three months we’ve all switched off our iPhones, put them in a drawer and embraced the lofi life that comes with owning a burner.
A burner is the most basic handset that you can get. The reference is from HBO’s The Wire where the drug dealing protagonists are reduced to talking on pre-paid mobile phones that they can throw away to keep “po-lice” off their backs.
There is no email, no bluetooth, no camera. Just SMS and phone calls.
The best thing about the burner is the extra time that it gives you to sit and think. Instead of relentlessly refreshing Twitter or email the burner forces you to take stock of your surroundings and to get comfortable with your own company.
Since I started using the burner I’ve been talking to random strangers, reading (The Fountainhead, loving it), and just generally thinking more. I’ve become more productive and I feel happier, less stressed.
When we’re connected to more information everyday, more information than we could ever consume in a lifetime, stealing moments away from the network is the best way to keep our sanity.
We run a digital agency, we live and breath digital, that doesn’t mean we need to be connected to it for every minute of every day. In fact it’s only by putting the internet in perspective, by stepping outside of it, that we’re able to become better.
Ned
P.S. If you’re thinking of getting a burner I can’t recommend the Nokia 1800 enough. $49, not locked to any network and super simple to use. Plus it comes in my favourite colour – black.
I had Nokia burners for decades, and it was the torch I loved best.
But the Iphone gives me Binaural consciousness tools, 1930′s cameras, translators and an amazing torch to light my way in the forest.
Turn off the email and throw away your TV instead …..
Have the cops been leaving you alone since?
Thanks Oska.
I threw away the TV ten years ago but still pretty glued to the computer. One less screen is a good start I think.
I’ve been thinking along these lines for ages, but I can’t bring myself to ditch my iPhone. I’ve been disabling notifications though, and I think that’s a happy medium. Good for you guys if you can manage to make it through without your smartphones. Kudos.
I wrote a post here: http://www.floate.com.au/the-anxiety-of-being-continually-connected/
Been thinking about this myself, but there is the expectation at work you can always access your emails. Also concerned about Bubbles picking up my old burners and selling them to McNulty.
[...] It gets thrashed in every way but I love it though next machine will be a Macbook Air. Nokia 1800 I switched to the Nokia 1800 from the iPhone 4 in January this year and haven’t looked back. Best mobile [...]
Cool, but a burner isn’t a “feature phone”, it’s a phone that’s thrown away (“burnt”). The other, significantly less accepted meaning is that because it’s used for illegal activities, it’s hot (hot, burn, burner…). Why don’t you just call it a basic phone or a feature phone? For a marketer, you’re not a very good communicator, huh, bro?
JJA you might have missed this part:
“A burner is the most basic handset that you can get. The reference is from HBO’s The Wire where the drug dealing protagonists are reduced to talking on pre-paid mobile phones that they can throw away to keep “po-lice†off their backs.
There is no email, no bluetooth, no camera. Just SMS and phone calls.”
I could have called it a “basic phone or a feature phone” but where’s the fun in that?
How long before you switched back to a smart phone?
We haven’t switched back.
We will eventually but not just yet.